Climate News Network | Sao Paulo, Brazil – The Amazon basin is now China's No.1 supplier of natural resources, replacing its Asian neighbours as their resources have become depleted. In a relatively short time, China has become Brazil's major trading partner, overtaking the US and Europe.
Climate Change
Reject Keystone XL
Attend the Forward on Climate rally this Sunday or participate online
The Cleanest Line | On February 17, 2013, this coming Sunday, our friends at Sierra Club and 350.org along with more than 120 partner organizations are planning what could be the largest climate rally in U.S. history. Here's how you can get involved.
Internationally-Renowned Environmental Leader Marina Silva Visits San Francisco
Trip agenda includes roundtable discussion with Bay Area environmental leaders, Bioneers presentations
San Francisco, CA – In a rare visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, 1996 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Marina Silva will introduce the Bay Area environmental community to her newly-launched center on sustainable development, Instituto Marina Silva, at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Goldman Prize and Amazon Watch.
The Amazon's Keepers Reach Out to the World
Indigenous groups have begun to "partner" with technology giants to protect endangered cultural customs and ecologies
Al Jazeera | Due to the remoteness of the regions that the Yawanawa and other tribes have called home for thousands of years, very little is known, even within Brazil, about their cultural heritage, their role as the "keepers of the Amazon" and how their existence is inextricably bound to the preservation of the forests and waterways of their land.
Rio+20 Proves Capitalism Won't Save the Planet
Climate & Capitalism | The UN Conference on Sustainable Development ended last week in what can only be described as failure. We face enormous environmental problems, but the Rio+20 response offers nothing but empty words; no timescales for action, no firm commitments.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
California Groups Urge Governor to Reject International Forest Carbon Credits
San Francisco, CA – A group of over 30 California-based organizations yesterday sent a letter to Governor Brown urging him to reject the use of international forest carbon offsets credits in the state's cap and trade system.
After 21 Days, Indigenous Occupation of Belo Monte Dam Ends in Discord
"Nothing has been resolved. The talks ended with no agreement with our communities."
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous communities of the middle Xingu ended their occupation of the Belo Monte dam's main cofferdam following two days of talks with Norte Energia. The action brought a notable level of national and international visibility to their concerns over the project's impacts on their health, livelihoods and environment, and...
Indigenous Leaders Call for Suspension of Belo Monte Construction License
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous leaders representing six tribes affected by the Belo Monte Dam complex along the Amazon's Xingu River sent a letter today to President Dilma Rousseff and other government authorities calling for immediate suspension of the controversial project's Installation License.
Occupy Belo Monte
Scenes from the indigenous-led occupation of Pimental Island on the Xingu River. More than 300 people representing 21 indigenous villages and 9 different ethnicities are participting so far.
Amazon Villagers Concerned about Environment
Al Jazeera | Some of the people who may be directly affected by plans for sustainable development live along the Amazon river. Gabriel Elizondo took a six-day journey along the waterway to visit them, and hear their thoughts on Rio+20.
Civil Society, Indigenous Groups Protest at Rio+20
Democracy Now | Protests continue at the Rio+20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. On Thursday, civil society delegates staged a walkout of the talks to call for bold action against global warming. Meanwhile, hundreds of indigenous activists marched through the streets of Rio de Janeiro to deliver a petition demanding fairer treatment over land...
Kari-Oca II Declaration: Indigenous Peoples at Rio+20 Reject the Green Economy and REDD
REDD Monitor | In 1992, while the first Rio Earth Summit took place, hundreds of indigenous peoples met and produced the Kari-Oca Declaration and the Indigenous Peoples Earth Charter. 20 years later, in parallel with Rio +20 meeting, more than five hundred indigenous peoples met and produced the Kari-Oca II Declaration.
60 Dams in Brazil's Amazon?
Controversy Spills over into "Earth Summit II"
MSNBC | Deforestation has received plenty of attention in recent years, but lesser known is the plan to build 60 dams there – including the $11 billion Belo Monte project.
Indigenous Rights Are Key to Rio+20's Vision of Sustainability
The Huffington Post | Twenty years ago I participated in the Earth Summit in Rio. I remember the hope and elation among hundreds of indigenous peoples from all four corners of the earth who had come together to push for their rights on an international stage. Far from the official summit from which they had been barred, one of the defining moments was the signing of...
As Growth Ebbs, Brazil Powers Up Its Bulldozers
New York Times | In a show of the extraordinary sway that Brazil's government wields in nearly every important area of the economy, President Dilma Rousseff is accelerating an array of stimulus projects throughout the country aimed at blunting a slowdown that has reduced Brazil's economic growth to a snail's pace.
Alternative Voices from Rio+20
While world leaders negotiate in the Rio+20 meeting halls, thousands of activists have launched "The People's Summit"
Al Jazeera | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – "The development – the drilling, mining and damming – is affecting everyone, our communities and the Earth, our home and the only planet we have."
Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Occupy Belo Monte Dam Site
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous peoples affected by the controversial Belo Monte dam complex in the Brazilian Amazon have occupied a coffer dam that cuts across channels of the river since last Thursday.
Stars of the Earth Summit
New York Times | Rio de Janeiro – If the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development has been criticized for being short on results, the mega-event has at least made the city a stage for a colorful cast of political and environmental personalities.
Living Art Resistance at Rio+20
Nearly 1500 people used Rio's Flamengo Beach as a canvas. Their bodies formed the lines of an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running rivers, truly clean energy sources like solar power and including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to climate issues.
"Rivers for Life" Human Banner at Rio+20
Nearly 1500 people used Rio’s Flamengo Beach as a canvas. Their bodies formed the lines of an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running rivers, truly clean energy and including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to climate issues.
Hundreds of Indigenous Activists and Allies Form "Human Banner" at Rio+20
Living art work creates iconic image demanding "Rivers for Life"
Río de Janeiro, Brazil – Nearly 1500 people used Rio's Flamengo Beach as a canvas today, their bodies forming the lines of an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running rivers, truly clean energy sources like solar power and including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to climate issues. The activity was led...
Hundreds of Indigenous Activists and Allies to Form "Human Banner" at Rio+20
"Living art" piece will make iconic image at Earth Summit
Altamira, Brazil – While the Brazilian Government prepares to host the Rio+20 United Nations Earth Summit, 3,000 kilometers north in the country's Amazon region indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, activists and local residents affected by the construction of the massive Belo Monte Dam project began a symbolic peaceful occupation of the...
Freeing the Xingu
Seeing the majestic Xingu River being dammed is heartbreaking; this morning, there was hope. Today's daring grassroots action was one of the most inspirational acts of resistance I have witnessed in 15 years as Executive Director.
What Bulldozers and Cynical Politics Do, Shovels and Grassroots Resistance Undo
300 indigenous people, small farmers, fisherfolk, and local residents occupied the Belo Monte Dam project, removing a strip to restore the Xingu's natural flow and "freeing the river."
As Rio+20 Gets Underway, Brazil's "Pandora" Dam Swarmed By Activists
Protesters planted 500 native açai trees and erected 200 crosses to honor the lives of those lost defending the Amazon.
Forbes | Around 300 activists protested hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon on Friday less than 24 hours after the nation's president, Dilma Rousseff, praised them as sources of clean and renewable energy at the U.N. Rio+20 conference. Using pick axes and shovels, people who are being displaced by the Belo Monte hydroelectric project removed a strip...
Amazonian Communities Occupy the Belo Monte Dam Site To Free the Xingu River
On the Eve of the Rio+20 UN Conference, Community Resistance Calls Attention to Brazilian Government's Unsustainable Energy Policy
Altamira, Brazil – While the Brazilian Government prepares to host the Rio+20 United Nations Earth Summit, 3,000 kilometers north in the country's Amazon region indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, activists and local residents affected by the construction of the massive Belo Monte Dam project began a symbolic peaceful occupation of the...
Please Stop Xingu Dam, Amazonian Indians Plead at Summit
AFP | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Amazonian chief Raoni on Thursday implored the UN environment summit here to halt a $13-billion dam being built in one of the world's last bastions of wildlife.
On the Eve of Rio+20: Ruin and Resistance on the Xingu
Jungle Dispatch | The Brazilian government is moving ahead with construction of the third-largest dam in the world and one of the Amazon's most controversial "development" projects – the Belo Monte Dam.
Rio+20's Search for Green Solutions Hampered by Deep Divisions
Expectations for action are low despite UN assessment that the world's environment is declining rapidly
The Guardian | Twenty years after trying and failing to halt humanity's destruction of our planet, the governments of the world will gather again in Rio this month for a "once-in-a-generation" Earth Summit that will open with great fanfare but low expectations of success.
